Print

2 After the Storm in 1953. The city was also the site of the first high school for blacks in the state. Baton Rouge also has the distinction of involvement in one of the longest desegregation cases in the nation’s history. For better or for worse, Baton Rouge is in many ways emblematic of the historical and con- temporary causes and consequences of minority group status in America. Moreover, New Orleans and Baton Rouge are both located in a state that incarcerates more of its own residents than any other state, hosts a very popular prison rodeo featuring some of the majority black population, and ranks at or near the bottom of lists ranking states in terms of gender equality, academic achievement, obesity, and other measurements of qual- ity of life. Enduring racial disparities in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and throughout the South provide evidence of the continuing significance of race and racism, and persistent racial wealth inequality and black asset inequality are the “smoking guns.” In this chapter we examine racial and ethnic differences in the types and levels of assets owned by blacks and whites, particularly blacks and whites in the South. Given the diversity within the black population and the growth of the foreign-born black population in America, including in the South, we also examine the role of black ethnicity. We analyze data from the American Community Survey for 2008–2013 to answer the following research questions: 1. To what extent were there racial differences in the types and levels of assets owned by blacks and whites after the Great Recession in the nation as a whole, and in the South in particular? 2. How did native-born blacks fare when compared with foreign-born blacks? 3. Did race alone explain all of the variations in the likelihood of owning a home? 4. In what ways are the experiences of blacks in Baton Rouge and Louisiana simi- lar to, or different from, the experiences of blacks throughout the South and throughout the nation? Finally, we address the theoretical, public policy, and methodological implications of our study findings, which include the need to debunk the myth of post-racialism, the destruction of walls of whiteness, and a greater emphasis on cooperative economics and community wealth building. The Racial Wealth Gap in America: A Historical Perspective The racial wealth gap in America, and the overrepresentation of blacks among the asset poor, captures the legacy of racial inequality in America in a way that few other sociological outcomes can. Blacks are less likely